Bronx Cemetery Suffers Mass Corpse Exodus

St. Raymond’s Cemetery, a Throg’s Neck graveyard, has seen an unusually large number of bodies leave its premises over the past two years, as 14 families have gone to court to have their relatives’ remains exhumed and moved to other cemeteries. For contrast, the Bronx’s Woodlawn cemetery, of similar size, saw zero disinterments in the same period. DNAInfo gives a laundry list of reasons for the various moves:

Gladys Lugo said it was the long drive to visit her daughter’s grave site. Catherine Iraldi said she wanted to bring her husband’s remains to a family mausoleum in Italy. Natividad Echandie said she had finally gathered enough money to buy a burial plot for her great-granddaughter.

According to an anonymous worker at St. Raymond’s, the reason for the corpse exodus might have something to do with the nature of the area. “[Families] leave The Bronx. They’ll go to New Jersey,” she said. “They want their loved ones to go with them.”

Whatever the reasoning for the trend, business at St. Raymond’s is still booming. “Sometimes we have 18, maybe 20, burials a day,” said the same employee. “We’re busy.”